Trump Compares Whistleblower’s Sources To Treasonous Spies, Suggests Execution As Punishment

President Donald Trump denounced the whistleblower complaint Thursday morning, suggesting the complaint was treasonous and the officials who provided information to the whistleblower were similar to spies.

“I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy,” Trump said. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

The comments, which came during a private event at the Intercontinental Hotel with U.S. diplomatic officials, prompted a few chuckles but left most of the audience shocked, according to a partial audio recording of the event.

“That kind of incitement to violence is only going to chill other witnesses when they come forward. And that is its very intent, to intimidate the witnesses,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-California) who initially raised the alarm about the classified whistleblower complaint.

Trump has been fiercely defending himself after the whistleblower complaint stating that the president had an inappropriate conversation with the Ukrainian president and then tried to “lock down” the call record, was made public.

“Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn’t a Whistleblower at all,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “In addition, all second hand information that proved to be so inaccurate that there may not have even been somebody else, a leaker or spy feeding it to him or her? A partisan operative?”